Just one night in Colombo

Our wing of the hotel with the Indian Ocean in the background
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We arrived at Colombo airport bright and early after our very early flight from India.  Having been warned of the driving in Colombo by a number of friends we steeled ourselves for the worst but were pleasantly surprised to find that it was like a drive through the English countryside (or state highway 1 in NZ) compared to India!

We spent the night in the most famous hotel in Colombo - The Galle Face Hotel (established in 18-something) - which was a very welcome taste of luxury (compared to our hotels so far).  We were 'Sir' and 'Madam' for the night and we swam in the massive swimming pool, sunned ourselves on plush loungers, used real cotton napkins, and drank G&T sundowners on the lawn overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Mr Ashley enjoying a newspaper over brekkie on the terrace
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We slept on sheets that not only used to be white, but still were, sans stains.  And to top it all off we weren't bitten by any mysterious bugs in the night.

The only downer on the day was the news reports of yet another bomb in Colombo that morning, just 200 metres from our hotel and the headlines the next morning stating that the Government had called off the ceasefire between themselves and the Tamil Tigers, vowing to put an end to Sri Lanka's 30 years of war within 3 months.  Great, had we managed to stumble into the start of a civil war?

Mad hotel...they seem to have something against smoking.
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The night was over all too soon, but it was a certain person's birthday the next day so it certainly wasn't the end of luxury...